"We are currently updating our website and doing maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Phase two of £12m Moorfields station refurbishment complete

Published on : Saturday, April 2, 2016

Work to transform the second of three platforms at Moorfields station in Liverpool is set to complete tomorrow in time for the Grand National meeting at Aintree the following weekend.Platform 1 on the Northern line at Moorfields will re-open after a three-month closure for renovation. It means that once again, Kirkby, Ormskirk and Southport passengers will be able to get off trains at this station.

Network Rail is investing £12m to upgrade the station’s platforms and escalators to provide passengers with an improved facility to serve Liverpool’s main business district.The first platform to be refurbished re-opened last August. Work on the last platform will take start on Monday 11 April and services will not stop at this platform until the work finishes in the summer.

The station, which is operated by Merseyrail, is the latest on Merseyside to be redeveloped as part of a £40m investment by Network Rail, working in partnership with Merseytravel and Merseyrail, to provide a better railway for the increasing number of people travelling by train. It will be completely refurbished but the station will remain open throughout the work.

Improvements will be made to platforms, walkways, and the upper and lower concourse areas. There will be new flooring, fresh enamel cladding on the walls and brighter lighting, which will give a cleaner, airy, less cluttered environment. Nine of the station’s escalators will also be refurbished to improve their reliability and lifespan. They currently carry 6.5 million passengers a year, a number which is predicted to double over the coming years.

Terry Strickland, area director, for Network Rail, said: “The upgrade of the first two platforms has made a huge difference to the look and feel of the station. The modern look on platforms 1 and 3 will be replicated on platform 2, completing the upgrade of the underground stations in the Merseyside area.

“The investment is part of our £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to provide passengers with a better railway and modern stations in Merseyside that they can rely on and be proud of.“We have carefully planned the work with Merseyrail and Merseytravel to limit disruption to passengers as much as possible and, by closing one platform at a time, we are able to keep the station open and keep trains running. Thank you to passengers for their patience while we upgrade their station.”

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Merseyrail’s managing director, commented: “Working with our partners Network Rail and Merseytravel, we have carefully planned the refurbishment work at Moorfields so that both Northern line platforms are available for the Grand National event this year. This will enable the station to operate at its maximum capacity for race-goers, reflecting the importance of local train services in getting large numbers of people to and from Grand National safely and quickly, and at an affordable price.”

Moorfields is the last of the five underground stations to be refurbished as part of Network Rail’s £40 million investment. The other stations were Liverpool Central, James Street, Lime Street and Hamilton Square.

This forms part of Network Rail’s £40bn investment in the railway by 2019 through the company’s Railway Upgrade Plan to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.